Homeless Encampment Burning

The homeless encampment under I-5 at NE 42nd Street is on fire, police and firefighters are there. No word on what caused it, and nobody appeared to be hurt.

Update at 2:30 PM: Everything’s out, just a burnt out camp. There are a remarkable number of bike parts (I saw four stripped frames, plus piles of parts), as well as gas cans, tools and other detritus.

Did they move the cars and scooters they had piling up on that corner? I empathize (somewhat) with their plight generally, but the number of needles on that path up from the bottom of the hill had gotten crazy, and John Stanford elementary was right there. Was not really a good mix.

This has so many upsetting aspects! The loss for some who legitimately lived there out of need. The loss of what were either stolen or donated bikes which had value. The ugliness to the land. Finally- concern- where do they go now with hopes, dreams, behavior patterns?

True words. Homelessness is a state of being, not a character trait. It neither identifies one as a criminal nor exonerates one as a victim of the system. Different people end up in that state for different reasons.

The crew that takes turns holding signs by the highway entrance, passing the time in between their shifts smoking and drinking on the sidewalk across the street, and dissembling stolen bikes under the freeway, make it a lot harder for folks legitimately struggling to get by. It’s frustrating.

I did notice the guy morning “do-crew” who pan handles at the entrance to I-5 S chilling in a very nice Ram pickup the other day. Haven’t seen it around before or since, so not quite sure what the deal was there.

Homeless are not “all” anything, Noduh. Some are addicts, yes. Some are mentally ill. Some are lazy. Some are out of luck because of rising housing costs. It’s irresponsible to portray them as monolithically addicted to drugs.

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